Lawyer in the news

Who? Catherine Scrivens, 42-year-old solicitor at the central London community law centre.

Why is she in the news? Represented four waiters who last week lost their legal battle to have credit card or cheque tips paid to them directly rather than the restaurant.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the four men - Italian Sandro Nerva and Spaniards Jose Pulleiro, Jose Gigirey-Cabo and Julio Rodriguez - were not violated by UK court rulings that tips added to a credit card or cheque belonged to the employer and could be counted as part of the waiters' basic pay.

Background: LLB at East London University 1990-93 followed by the legal practice course at the College of Law in London.

Qualified with Pattinson & Brewer in 1998, and moved six months later to the law centre.

Route to the case: 'It has been ongoing for ten years, and I inherited it from my predecessor here at the law centre.'

Thoughts on the case: 'The court ruled that because the credit card voucher used to settle a bill was in the restaurant's name, the money legally belonged to them rather than the waiter.

However, although we didn't score a legal victory, I feel that we scored a moral one.

All the publicity that the case got has made people aware of the problem that waiters face - that although the diner may intend their money to go to the waiter, in reality it will go to the restaurant.

Many more people now know that you have to tip in cash if you want the waiter to get the money.'

Dealing with the media: 'We're pleased that the case has enjoyed so much publicity, because the more people who are aware of the problem, the more people will tip in cash.

I've had no media training, but I've found that the more interviews you do, the better at it you get.

We always have funding problems here at the law centre, but this case has shown how important our work is, as the four waiters would never have been able to take their case this far if it were not for us.'

Victoria MacCallum